The Steelers offense has a problem, and it might just be three years running.
You can blame everyone on the Steelers, from the top down, for this loss. Matt Canada is included in that, and although the burden of this loss is not entirely on him, he had his hand in it. For one, the opening scripts of games repeatedly fall flat. That is across multiple quarterbacks and tracks back to his LSU and Maryland days. It’s not a new development. The first play call you have to question of the day is the pop pass to Calvin Austin on the second play of the game to the short side of the field. Why condense the field for Austin?
However, the call that stuck out from the game was on 4th and 4th late in the third quarter. Instead of running anyone to the sticks, the entire route concept ran the players to the back of the endzone, giving Kenny Pickett few options. Overall, Canada does not deserve to be the only person blamed, but when the offense comes out that flat, the offensive coordinator deserves some share of the blame.
But the stats showcase that these struggles might just be historically bad. Canada has accomplished some impressive marks. For one, the team has not scored over 20 points in 27 of his 36 games as offensive coordinator. They have scored more than 30 points just twice over those 36 games.
Even more, in his first 36 games with the team, the Steelers have had zero games over 400 yards with Canada at the helm. That’s not just bad; it’s horrific. The last time the team cracked the 400-yard mark was in their wild-card loss to the Cleveland Browns during the 2020 season.
The most concerning part? These passing charts from today, one of which is Kenny Pickett, and the second, Ben Roethlisberger from 2021, look virtually the same. There are too many patterns over the years, quarterbacks, and personnel changes to deny the obvious. Canada has a large hand in the offense’s problems.
Kenny Pickett's passing chart from the first game of the season. pic.twitter.com/8cWWIqds0q
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) September 11, 2023
Take the stats, the charts, whatever. The Steelers offense has struggled under Canada and has not changed much. When Pittsburgh returned to the drawing board and kept Canada this offseason, their growth during the second half of the season last year proved to be the main reason Canada was brought back. While Sunday is not solely on Canada, it is the latest game in a concerning trend of clunkers from the Steelers over his games as offensive coordinator.
The Steelers have given below-average quarterback play, substandard offensive line play, and a roller coaster of offensive skill players, but at some point, the correlation is there. Good play callers can raise the floor and ceiling of an NFL offense, no matter the lackluster nature of their personnel. Canada has failed in that task. Sunday continues a trend now over three seasons in the making.